Jambi (ANTARA News) - The Sultan Thaha Syaifudin Airport in Jambi continued to remain shut on Friday as thick smoke blanketed the province.

By Friday evening, 12 flights from the airport were cancelled due to the smoke, the airports Operations Chief, Parolan Simanjuntak, said.

"By Friday evening, not a single plane had landed at the Sulthan Thaha Airport in Jambi and several flights were cancelled. This morning, only the Jakarta-bound Garuda plane flew out of the airport after being parked there overnight," he said.

Normally, the airport caters to 36 flights to and from the airport per day.

Among the airlines flying to the Sulthan Thaha Airport are Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Nam Airlines, Sriwijaya Airlines, City Link, and Susi Air.

"Sriwijaya Airlines has cancelled its flights to the airport until September 5, and so has Susi Air. The airlines that were originally slated to fly today are Garuda Indonesia, City Link and Lion Air. But none of them have taken off," Simanjuntak revealed.

The airport operates from morning to night. The last flight from the airport departs at 07.45 p.m. and the last flight arrives at 08.30 p.m.

On Thursday, only one Garuda plane had landed at the airport at 08.30 p.m., Simanjuntak said.

He said visibility at the airport was above the normal limit on Thursday night.

"Visibility was 2,200 meters at 08.00 p.m. But only one plane landed at the airport and no planes took off on Thursday," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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